NJ Planning Chairman Pleads Not Guilty to DUI Charge

The chairman of the New Jersey State Planning Commission has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated stemming from a crash on the Garden State Parkway.

An attorney representing Edward McKenna Jr., a former longtime mayor of Red Bank, entered the plea on his behalf Tuesday in municipal court in Tinton Falls.

The Asbury Park Press reports the 63-year-old McKenna was also charged with reckless driving in the May 13 accident, in which his Mercedez-Benz struck a guard rail and spun around. He was not injured.

The newspaper says McKenna was also involved in a minor crash on the Parkway in 2000, for which pleaded guilty to careless driving and failure to report an accident.

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